I think this is how it works in plain English: he bought the option to buy 200 * 100 TSLA shares at $1000 on or before the 28th (call options are always done in

I think this is how it works in plain English: he bought the option to buy 200 * 100 TSLA shares at $1000 on or before the 28th (call options are always done in batches of 100). He paid $481k for this option. So he stood to make $20000 for every $1 that the stock price went above $1000. So I think he needed the price to go to $1024 to break even. TSLA closed around $830 yesterday, so there is little chance of it getting to $1000 or above today, hence he lost basically everything. The $30K odd amount in the current market value is probably just a reflection of some people hoping that the stock price will bounce back today, but it's very unlikely.